Some of our merry little band - Damien's on the left.Mother Nature did her part in completely soaking Melbourne for most of the week as well as giving it another good go Saturday night!! As you can imagine, Lysterfield was a tad damp to say the least. Add to that about 370 riders all out there on the one track and it soon became pretty messy. Good Ol' Ma Nature did cut us a break and keep the rain away for the event itself, so some parts of the 11.7km course did have a go at trying to dry out - not that there was a sun to chase all day…
Quick rundown of how enduro events work: teams of 2 (or 3 or 4) do relay laps of the course, and the teams with the most laps in the quickest time after the time limit expires wins. This one was for 5 hours.
Damien led off with the first of our 7 laps amongst the mass start of nearly 200 riders (he's in there somewhere!), and came back spattered with mud. Then came my turn to have a go through the course that's now had a couple of hundred riders chew it up a bit. Not the easiest course I've ridden as staying upright 
while your wheels are sliding about makes life interesting, and so do other riders on the course! One poor fellow went over right in front of me, and while I went around a tree off the track to avoid him, he ended up in rather large puddle! I'd have laughed, but I was too busy with what I was doing, although I did shout out if he was okay to which he thankfully said 'yes'. If you check out the picture on the left you'll get an idea of what some parts of the course were like - you might even notice the "slide" of the rear wheel too. (click on Erin Francis' pic to see it better)As the day wore on, it became harder to get around the track, and not just because the course was deteriorating, but I think a complete lack of previous fitness on my part may have had something to do with it! (Also getting Billy Idol's "Dancing By Myself" stuck in my head on the last lap was a little disconcerting)
All up, a top day out riding bikes in the mud - who wants to grow up, really? And to come away from the event without coming off was an added bonus! I've not been one to think too highly of Lysterfield's tracks, but this event has given me a healthy respect for them!
Another of Erin Francis' pics.On a side note, here's who you don't listen to about presentations!
Just before the presentations started I was chatting with one of the guys in our group. I asked how far away until presentations, and he said "not long". I asked if I had enough time to take some stuff back to the car, and his response was "yeah, you should be fine", so off to the car I went.
Only when I get back I found out that my name was the first out of the hat for the major prize of a new Bike!! Except that because I wasn't there to claim it, they drew out the next name. Apparantly, they had to draw out 7 names til they had a winner - you guessed it, the fellow who told me I had enough time to pack some stuff up was that 7th name!!
I really was just too tired to care...
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